John Williams, Treasures of Nhill & District Facebook page 25th March 2025, Nhill Free Press & Kaniva Times.

In April 1904, a tailor, E. Thomas brought to Nhill a French car in which a reporter from the Nhill Free Press was given a ride from Kaniva to Nhill.

The type of car has been questioned: Contemporary reports suggested it was a De Dion Bouton and that Thomas was a Nhill local.

However local car historian Daryl Meek disputes this and says first car to visit Nhill was a 1901 Darracq of six and a half horsepower owned by Edward Thomas, a commercial traveller from Geelong and was driven by his 17 year old son Fred.

There were several tailors in Nhill in 1904 and Thomas is not mentioned in newspaper advertising so this supports the commercial traveller claim although the following report suggests he was from Nhill.

The Nhill Free Press 1904:

To the all-conquering march of the motor car even the mallee has succumbed, and any day you may suddenly hear the solitude of the “way back” scrub disturbed by the uncanny whirring and panting of the flying machine as it whistles round a bend or snoots along a straight portion of the track.

What the feathered and other denizens of the woods must think of it we know not, but it does somewhat disturb the harmony of the bush, and seem slightly incongruous to meet this latest marvel of locomotion in such environment. Twenty years hence will be quite a different matter.

On Wednesday morning we had the pleasure of enjoying a fine spin down from Kaniva with a party of four in Mr E. Thomas’ local motor car. This machine is a very good one of French manufacture (originally costing £400), and, being of 9-horse power, is capable of both speed and power.

The flying rush down the slopes of the Lawloit ranges was exhilarating in the extreme, and the bracing keenness of the morning air lent a rare charm to the, to us, novel ride. The twenty-five miles were negotiated in 2 hours 10 minutes, and though this time is nothing in the record-breaking time, the pace in places was “all on.”

The motor is the property of Mr E. Thomas, of Nhill, who intends using it in his business journeys in the country, but it is in the charge of his son, Mr Fred, Thomas, whose pleasure and delight it is to drive it. The latter possesses an evident penchant for machinery which is indispensable to the expert handling of a motor.

We certainly look forward to another run in Mr Thomas’ car with pleasurable anticipations.

This event occurred at a time when driving a car from Adelaide to Melbourne via Nhill was unthinkable because of the state of the road. Any such journey went via Mount Gambier and was a trip of 38 hours driving, but in fact took days to complete.

Footnote: It is listed that the current travel time between Nhill and Kaniva is 27 minutes by car and just 20 minutes in a bus. Go figure! Or you could walk and take 8 hours and 50 minutes.

This article appeared in Nhill Free Press & Kaniva Times, 2 April 2025.